Does anyone else get dementia-like dreams?

[Sarahnadine]

I had a scary experience. Last night I dreamt that I forgot everything..even the layout of my own house...I envisioned doorways where there arent any, rooms where there arent actually rooms.. I was confused and woke up in a panic. When I woke up I didnt even know my left from my right..even my husbamd touching me I flinched. I couldnt fall back asleep after that.

[dolphin]

Sure, I've had dreams where I was lost or mistaking where I was for somewhere else, including my own house. I haven't really had this mindset persist upon waking up, but I could imagine how scary that would be.

[Darkmatters]

A decade or so ago I once woke up believing I was sitting on the corner of the coffee table downstairs in the living room in pitch blackness. I felt horribly disoriented and was afraid to move, because I wasn't quite sure that's exactly where I was, or how I had gotten there. It took a long time before I realized I wasn't sitting up, I was laying in bed under my sheets, but I thought I was facing the wrong way, with my feet up near the pillow. I believed that for what seemed like a long time too, until I realized I could feel the pillow under my head - I had been laying in bed the right way the entire time but for some reason had the belief I was somewhere else. I think this is closely related to out of body experiences or astral travel. I think sometimes people can do this without trying to, if they're experiencing something like a spiritual awakening. What we today call dementia or schizophrenia and various other 'mental illnesses' were always thought of very differently in cultures of the past. People who experienced these things were trained to become shamans or holy seers, for they were being spoken to by God or Spirits, and if given the training and help they needed they would become powerful healers for the tribe.